Going back to myself, I would like to think…

Going back to myself, I would like to think that I have never used all the benefits that I have received from the creator at the expense of another person. I have always offered people to join with me and whatever privileges I have received. I do not feel that I am better than any other person. As I said earlier, when a person begins to feel entitled, their relationships with family or with strangers starts to get stresses and creates jealousies.

— from Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society) · GB writing

In the book

And let me say plainly where I have tried to stand in all of this. I would like to believe I have never used the privileges I was given at another person's expense; I have always tried to bring people with me into whatever good fortune came my way. Because the moment a person begins to feel entitled — to feel they are owed more than the next person — their relationships, with family and strangers alike, begin to strain and to breed jealousy. […] I would like to believe I have never used the privileges I was given at another person's expense; I have always tried to bring people with me into whatever good fortune came my way. Because the moment a person begins to feel entitled — to feel they are owed more than the next person — their relationships, with family and strangers alike, begin to strain and to breed jealousy. And I will tell you the single most useful thing I learned for keeping the peace among people: the best way to stop two sides from fighting is almost never to defeat one of them, but to show them the values and interests they already hold in common, so that each can see it is in their own interest to come together. […] Be a good citizen. Go beyond being a good neighbor to taking responsibility for the wider whole; speak up when something is wrong; but never surrender your own gifts to the crowd. Keep widening the circle. Refuse entitlement, bring others into your good fortune, and participate generously in the well-being of those around you. To my children, and to theirs: — Friends, Community & Society (Relationships/Community/Society)

Entitlement. This is the one I fear most for you. The moment a person begins to feel entitled — to feel the world owes them what they were given — their relationships with family and strangers alike fill up with stress and jealousy. I can tell you that I have tried never to use a single one of the blessings I received at another person's expense, and never to feel that I was better than anyone, because the day you start feeling better than others is the day the rot sets in. […] The moment a person begins to feel entitled — to feel the world owes them what they were given — their relationships with family and strangers alike fill up with stress and jealousy. I can tell you that I have tried never to use a single one of the blessings I received at another person's expense, and never to feel that I was better than anyone, because the day you start feeling better than others is the day the rot sets in. Wealth itself doesn't cause this — but how a gift is given very much determines whether children grow into fulfilled lives or into lives of subsidy, dependency, and entitlement. […] Hold the family together. A bundle of sticks; give and ask forgiveness; build empathy, not blame. Refuse entitlement. Use no blessing at another's expense, and never feel you are owed. Plant the slow trees. Think seven generations out; leave the family better than you found it. […] I have tried to live all of this and have not always managed it; an honest father admits that too. I never wanted to think myself better than another soul, or to take my blessings at anyone's cost. Life is a series of moments, and the whole trick is to dance the one you are standing in right now; look around and you'll see you have already danced a great many, and made it this far. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)

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